Mystery anglo

[Tiposx]

Well, not really a mystery, I just don't know who the maker was. It has brass reeds and a hook action. The bellows that are on it had gold tooling around the ends, and what looks like gold patterns on the papers. These decorations have been painted over. The end screws are steel wood screws, there are no plates in the bellows frames. At the front facing point of each end plate there is a diamond shaped insert, probably wood veneer.

I guess it is a Jones, can anyone help shed some light on it?

[John Sylte]

Looks like an oddball Lachenal to me with the Steel Reeds stamp and smaller buttons. End screws look to have been replaced. However, fretwork seems crude and different for Lachenal? A pic of the insides may help.

 

[Alan Day]

The Lachenal trade mark is in the hand rest. An early example of their work.

Al

[alex_holden]

The fretwork looks very crude to me. Maybe DIY replacement end plates?

[Tiposx]

I have some serial numbers. Those on the reed pans differ from those on the bellows frames, so it looks like two instruments have contributed to the mystery.

I will ask Wes.

[Tiposx]

Wes said sonething like this:

"If Lachenal the reed pans would probably be from an anglo system c.1881/2, but the bellows could have come from an anglo c.1879, or an English c.1919"

From that I now believe it to be made from two Lachenal anglos.

So I have been working hard to restore this concertina, which was in a distressed condition internally. I found that the end screws, which had led me to believe that it was a Jones perhaps, were not original. They were old style steel woodscews with the ends turned down to match the style of the concertina. The brass nuts/plates that should have been let in to the bellows frames had been removed, possibly broken out and replaced with plywood plates. Naturally the crude thread in those plates had broken out.

I have made 12 nuts and end bolts, so it looks original and is strong again.

Having put the restored reed pans through the tuning bellows I find that the (brass) reeds are in Jeffries layout. I haven't found this before in a Lachenal. The reeds appear to be original, and in old high pitch.

Does anyone have experience of this? I bought the instrument from Ireland.

Cheers

Tiposx

Edited yesterday at 02:04 PM by Tiposx